[VIDEO PICK] U.S. under-14 national team coach Hugo Perez and U.S. Club Soccer chairman Phil Wright review the 2013 id2 National Selection International Tour to Spain, where the players born in 1999 played four games, including matches against youth academy teams from Real
Madrid and Barcelona.

"I think it's very important for our players in America to get this type of exposure," Perez said. "For our kids to play against two of the great clubs in the world
I think has been a good experience for them. Watching this week and being here with the group and the players, I think we can compete, and again I'm very excited that U.S. Club Soccer has put this
program together."

I think Hugo Perez was there because this was basically our U14 USA National Team that went there. 12 of the 18 are currently on Hugo's 35 player roster and most have been to 2-3 USSF NTC's. 14 of them have been to at least one NTC with most being "Identified" by USSF before ID2. I would like to see programs like ID2 identify new talent, not yet noticed by the USSF, to be reccommended through these events. Or just call this a prep trip for the U14 USA team and not ID2.

US Soccer and coaches from affiliated leagues do a fair and unbiased job regarding player selection- most coaches at that level do a tremendous job of picking players that deserve to be there. It is all based on merit.

Great experience for these boys, will defenitely give them an idea on how they compare in skill level and knoweledge of the game at this stage of their development, especially against the Real Madrid and Barcelona teams.

I agree with Arreola. This is basically the National team. So its strange when they say this event is to identify kids for the national team. I think the number is more like 15 out of 18, already being national team players. At this level though.. they all run in the same circles so its impossible for them not to know who is who. And not taking kids from the national team would kind be like saying... you dont know how to identify talent... these are the kids we are taking... right? Great opportunity for the boys. I hope they are not going to get to jaded though.. could you imaging at 14... going from one camp to the next, being given gear and told you are the best in the country... pretty big stuff for this age. They took a very physically strong group over seas and a part of me thinks that if most of them are already on the National team... then they took them over there for one thing... to win... because they have already been the aforementioned. It would be great to see some video of the real madrid/barca games because you gotta wonder how the best kids in the whole US with the best coaching in the whole US... got defeated. What style did they play. US club touted all along that they wanted kids that are technical and could bring the ball out of the back. Did they do that or was it just a little of that then... long ball or individual talent? Just curious.

I hear there were 1-2 already National pool players invited but would not go because they were missing too much school time with USSF National Camp right before this trip. Let's be clear I have no problem with the National Team going over there but why promote that ID2 "Identifies" these players first, or most of them, and then they get promoted to USSF. It's the other way around. It is really the same guys, so just get the ID2 name out of the way and have Nike sponsor the USA Euro trip for these U14's. What I find a little weird is that PDA gets 2 players selected for this trip every year since 2010 ( there is no info on previous years ). Coincidentally, PDA director is the same director for ID2. What do you guys think?

David I believe they have been pushing the 4-3-3, and yes, from what I seen at ID2 trainings, PDP, MTC, etc. They want them coming out playing from the back, kick ball totally frowned upon. Weather they were able to implement that style, who knows? would like to see videos also. I seen their starting defenders and they are skilled players, most play attacking midfield or strikers on their respective teams, and very good at those positions also.... here are some videos posted of some of their play during past U14 trainings in Carson.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ArjYfafkoQ